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When Donald Trump became the Republican nominee in July 2016 it was almost inconceivable that he could make it to the White House. Yet in January 2017 Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States.

How Trump won will be debated for years to come and the task of understanding his victory will be a burden for analysts and historians from all political backgrounds.

For social media platforms 4chan and Reddit though, the Trump victory was the result of a long, hard-fought war: The Great Meme War. Many of you have likely not heard of it, though all of us were very much affected by it and will be dealing with its repercussions for years to come.

We believe it was a significant reason behind Trump's victory and it signals the need for politicians and political parties to better understand the internet, the different kinds of groups that are active, and how to work with or against these groups during election campaigns.

The longer politicians refrain from doing so, the more likely populist politics is here to stay.

There are tens of thousands of examples of memes, from the peace and love symbol, to the smiley face, to Jesus on the cross. Memes are the building blocks of culture. The idea at the heart of memes is the concept of transmission content only becomes a meme by spreading.

An "internet meme" is the evolution of this: a cultural idea or symbol that is shared online. They have become a cornerstone of the online experience.

Had commentators and pundits been paying closer attention to memes, the result of the US presidential election may not have been as much a surprise as it was. The influencers in this election were not journalists, celebrities or politicians. They weren't even the main social media channels like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter.

4chan and Reddit were where attack ads were inspired and honed, negative associations cultivated, messages tested and iterated, content weaponised and released.

It was on these platforms that the online battle for the US election was being fought and won. And it was being fought and won on behalf of President Trump by a volunteer army of internet trolls.

4chan is an image-based social network. 4channers generally do not try to take the moral high ground, quite the opposite they try to take the moral low ground and they have no problem in using language that the "liberal establishment" sees as offensive. Elements within the site represent a complete rejection of political correctness on the internet.

Compared to the generally liberal platforms of mainstream social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.), 4chan caters to those who have extreme views, and many who reject liberal multicultural values.

These users mythologise the state of the system as being controlled by Jews and Zionists, a New World Order, George Soros, that minorities are being led on by a small elite. It is a beating heart of online conspiracy theorists.

President Trump's rallies were attended by a similar, though different, type of people: those who saw the liberal establishment as failing to meet their needs, and who had grown increasingly frustrated with the perceived prioritisation of the struggles of minority groups at the expense of their own. A perfect storm was born.

Clinton was getting stick from 4chan long before Trump had become the 4chan "God Emperor". In the Democrat primaries, a meme called "Bernie or Hillary?" came into force which was used to compare the two candidates and show their thoughts on certain issues.

The creators of the meme shared the idea that Sanders was "cool", and could connect with his followers through a strong knowledge of subcultures, whereas Clinton was depicted as ignorant or exploitative of popular culture.

With this perception developed during the Democratic primaries, every time Clinton tried to harness a meme in the presidential campaign it only reinforced that exploitative stereotype. And she tried to use memes a lot: whether through asking people to "Describe your student loan debt in three emojis or less", learning how to dab on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, or the mannequin challenge on-board her campaign plane.

Worse, her team came out and condemned a meme, Pepe the Frog, as a hate symbol and referred to Trump's following as a "basket of deplorables". The term has become widespread since, and not in a good way: it is now used as a badge of honour.

In her defence, Pepe the Frog had become a neo-Nazi hate symbol. The issue was that Clinton's campaign engaged with the memetic idea of Pepe rather than the political narrative that Pepe had come to represent, and in doing so she further provoked an online anonymous enemy with a dangerous skillset: the ability to create viral content.

Memes didn't just target Hillary. Bill was targeted for his sexual misdemeanours frequently and Ted Cruz also got it in the neck. The Texas senator was compared to inanimate objects and animals such as the blobfish, awkward camera moments of him were shared, and a conspiracy theory circulated that Cruz was the Zodiac Killer. Arguably, the perception of Cruz created by The Great Meme War defeated his presidential ambitions.

Trump did not have such difficulty. Memes on the new president were designed to honour him as a candidate that the right could engage with. These included the neo-Nazi Pepe the Frog meme and one very appropriately named "God Emperor Trump".

The president was praised by users for his political incorrectness and directness of speech, and 4channers turned many of his tweets into memes. Using "Sad!" at the end of a tweet, for example, became popular.

Trump himself got involved in the meme game, though perhaps unwittingly, when he retweeted a picture of a superimposed Trump/Pepe the Frog with the caption "You Can't Stump the Trump". He may not have made memes himself, but he acknowledged the support he got without engaging in the meme culture around him.

Research has demonstrated the effectiveness memes conceived on 4chan have had on the American public. A Public Policy Polling poll in February 2016 found that a whopping four in 10 (38%) of Florida voters thought it viable that Ted Cruz was the Zodiac Killer. One in 10 (10%) said they had no doubt he was.

#Pizzagate, another 4chan conspiracy, not only led to an individual firing a gun in a pizza restaurant but according to YouGov research has more than half of Donald Trump supporters and a third of Democrats believing it to be true. The conspiracy revolves around the Clintons being involved in a human trafficking ring.

When Trump won there were celebrations on 4chan and Reddit. But that wasn't all that happened.

After his victory a new series of threads started to appear promoting a meme war in Europe to help elect the far-right and we're already seeing advice on meme virality shared along with translation help. The recent news that Reddit has shut down alt-right threads is unlikely to make much difference users will coalesce elsewhere.

There are solid foundations for European memesters to build upon. French presidential hopeful Franois Fillon is currently dogged by a political scandal around paying his wife what was originally thought to be less than 500,000 (425,000, $532,650) but is now purportedly closer to 1m. No one knows what the money was for.

We recently saw Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resign following a referendum on constitutional reform. Remarkably it turned out that the younger age groups were very much opposed to the reform, the age groups that are most likely to be targeted and affected by another meme war this side of the pond.

The conditions in Europe are ripe.

Tom Hashemi is director and Tim Moots is communications researcher at We are Flint a research-driven design and communications agency.

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The Great Meme War helped Donald Trump win now Europe should prepare for the hidden battle - International Business Times UK

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has declared a popular internet meme depicting a cartoon frog to be a hate symbol.

Pepe the Frog's beginnings were unoffensive: he is the creation of comic book creator Matt Furie , who featured the frog as a character in the series Boy's Club beginning in 2005. The character subsequently became a beloved meme, often called the "sad frog meme" and shared with a speech bubble reading "Feels good man" or "Feels bad man." It was at times posted on social media by the likes of Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj. But recently, as the Daily Beast reported in May, the character has been co-opted by a faction of Internet denizens who decided to reclaim it from the mainstream, and began sharing it in anti-Semitic contexts.

"Images of the frog, variously portrayed with a Hitler-like moustache, wearing a yarmulke or a Klan hood, have proliferated in recent weeks in hateful messages aimed at Jewish and other users on Twitter," the ADL wrote in a statement . "Once again, racists and haters have taken a popular Internet meme and twisted it for their own purposes of spreading bigotry and harassing users," wrote ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt.

Earlier this year, the ADL added the (((echo))) symbol to its Hate on Display database, noting that members of the alt-right movement were using it to single out Jewish users, particularly journalists, on social media.

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Pepe the Frog Declared Hate Symbol by Anti-Defamation ...

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In todays papers: pundits call on @Theresa_May to disrupt possible Russia-US thaw, wrotethe official embassy account, along with a picture of Pepe. No trust in Britains best friend and ally?

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The post led to left-wing social justice warriors claiming that the Russian Embassy had just shared a white nationalist symbol, despite their claims being based off of discredited evidence featured in an interview with two notorious trolls.

[H]i there, reporter here. are you aware of that images popularity among white nationalists? responded Talia Jane, areporter for Mic the site thatsabotaged a fundraiser for a gay military charity in October due to the fact that it was taking place at a pro-Trump art show.

Hi there, someone who actually understands the internet here, replied another user to Jane in defense of Pepe. Are you aware that youre a complete moron?

Whatever Pepe started as, its now a white supremacist/nationalist dog whistle & @RussianEmbassy is tweeting it claimed another verified user, who also pointed out that the embassy was liking the tweets of the trolls defending pepe.

Stop spreading lies. Pepe (Kek Be Upon Him) is a meme of peace,replied one userin response to the false claims that Pepe is a hate symbol, while another simply commented, Its a fucking meme you dolt.

Other accounts also insinuated that Pepe the Frog was a hate symbol,seemingly unaware of the discredited source behind these claims.

Popular internet meme Pepe the Frogwas added to the Anti-Defamation Leagues hate symbol database in September, where it currently sits alongside the swastika, Nazi SS lightning bolts, and various Ku Klux Klan imagery.

Hillary Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, NBCsKaty Tur, and Heat Streethave also branded the cartoon frog a symbol for white supremacy, seemingly basing their claims on a Daily Beast article that interviewed two notorious trolls, Jared Taylor Swift and Paul Town.

During the interview, Swift and Town attempted to link the meme to white supremacy,with Swift boasting that he had managed to trick the media on his since-removed Twitter account afterwards. Following this interview, Pepe has been used as a scapegoat by the left to brand internet-dwelling conservatives, libertarians, and even Donald Trump, Jr.as racist.

The branding hasprompted many users to fight back against the Clinton Campaign, mainstream media, and ADLs ruling that Pepe is an offensive icon, branding it a war on memes.

Several popular YouTubers have also defended the cartoon frog, while pro-Trump iPhone game Build the Wall: The Gamewas rejectedfromApples App Store for featuring Pepe, and eventually even his silhouette.

Charlie Nash is a reporterforBreitbart Tech. You can follow himon Twitter@MrNashingtonorlike his page at Facebook.

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Russian Embassy Tweets Pepe the Frog Meme, Upsets SJWs

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The claim was made in response toDonald Trump Jr.s decision to share an image on Instagram entitled The Deplorables, with DonaldTrump and severalprominent supporters superimposed on a poster from The Expendables to mockClintons claim last week that half of Donald Trumps supporters are a basket of deplorables.

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Pepe the Frog is a prominent face in the photo, which also includes Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos as well as politicians such as Chris Christie and Dr. Ben Carson.

In an attempt to horrify potential Clinton supporters,Elizabeth Chan, one of Clintons senior strategists wrote, that Pepe the Frog is a symbol associated with white supremacy.

Wait. Really? White supremacy?, the post continues before explaining that Pepe is a cartoon frog who began his internet life as an innocent meme enjoyed by teenagers and pop stars alike.

But in recent months, Pepes been almost entirely co-opted by the white supremacists who call themselves the alt-right. Theyve decided to take back Pepe by adding swastikas and other symbols of anti-semitism and white supremacy, it continues.

The post then uses this as an attempt to attack Trump, who retweeted a mocked up image of himself as Pepe the Frog in October last year.

Trump has retweeted his white supremacist supporters with regularity, but the connection between the alt-right and his campaigncontinues to strengthen.Now white supremacists have given Pepe the cartoon frog some Trump hairand the candidates own son says he is honored to be grouped with him, the post concludes.

You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew,oremail him at ben@yiannopoulos.net

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Clinton Campaign: Pepe the Frog a 'Symbol of White ...

Pepe the Frog is a popular Internet meme. The fictional green anthropomorphic frog with a frog-like face and a humanoid body is originally from a comic series by Matt Furie called Boy's Club.[2] It became an Internet meme when its popularity steadily grew across Myspace, Gaia Online and 4chan in 2008. By 2015, it had become one of the most popular memes used on Tumblr. Beginning in 2016, his image has increasingly been appropriated as a symbol of the controversial alt-right movement. Because of the use of Pepe by the alt-right, the Anti-Defamation League added Pepe the Frog to their database of hate symbols in 2016, adding that not all Pepe memes are racist.[3] Since then, Pepe's creator has publicly expressed his dismay at Pepe being used as a hate symbol.[4]

The meme's original use has evolved over time and has many variants, including Sad frog, Smug frog, Feels frog, and "You will never..." frog.[5]

Pepe the Frog was created by American artist Matt Furie. Its usage as a meme came from his comic, Boy's Club #1. The progenitor of Boy's Club was a zine that Furie made on Microsoft Paint called Playtime, which included Pepe as a character.[6] He posted his comic in a series of blog posts on Myspace in 2005.[5][7]

In the comic, Pepe was found urinating with his pants pulled down to his ankles and the catchphrase "feels good man" was his rationale.[8][9] Furie took those posts down when the printed edition was published in 2006.[5]

Pepe was used in blog posts on Myspace and became an in-joke on Gaia Online. In 2008, the page containing Pepe and the catchphrase was scanned and uploaded to 4chan's /b/ board, which was described by Motherboard as his "permanent home".[5] It took off among 4chan users, who adapted Pepe's face and the catchphrase to fit different scenarios and emotions, such as melancholy, anger, and surprise.[2] Color was also added, originally a black and white line drawing, Pepe became green with brown lips, sometimes in a blue shirt.[7][8] "Feels Guy", or "Wojak", originally an unrelated character typically used to express melancholy, was eventually often paired with Pepe in user-made comics or images.[9]

"My Pepe philosophy is simple: 'Feels good man.' It is based on the meaning of the word Pepe: 'To go Pepe.' I find complete joy in physically, emotionally, and spiritually serving Pepe and his friends through comics. Each comic is sacred, and the compassion of my readers transcends any differences, the pain, and fear of 'feeling good.'"

Around 2015, as Pepe's usage was increasing, a phenomenon began on 4chan where users would declare certain variants as rare, known as a "rare Pepe". These images, sometimes as physical paintings,[10][11] were put up for sale and auction on eBay and posted in listings on Craigslist.[2][5] 4chan users referred to those who used the meme outside of the website as "normies" in response to the meme's increase in usage.[5] That year Pepe was #6 on Daily News and Analysis' list of the most important memes and was the most reblogged meme on Tumblr.[12][13]

During the 2016 United States presidential election, the meme was connected to the Donald Trump's campaign. In October 2015, Donald Trump retweeted a Pepe representation of himself, associated with a video called "You Can't Stump the Trump (Volume 4)".[3][14] Later in the election, Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr. posted a parody movie poster of The Expendables on Twitter and Instagram titled "The Deplorables", a play of Hillary Clinton's controversial phrase, basket of deplorables, which included Pepe's face among those of members of the Trump family and other figures popular among the alt-right.[15]

Also during the election, associations of the character with white nationalism and the alt-right were described by various news organizations.[16][17][18] In May 2016, Olivia Nuzzi of The Daily Beast wrote how there was "an actual campaign to reclaim Pepe from normies" and that "turning Pepe into a white nationalist icon" was an explicit goal of some on the alt-right.[19] In September 2016, an article published on Hillary Clinton's campaign website described Pepe as "a symbol associated with white supremacy" and denounced Donald Trump's campaign for its supposed promotion of the meme.[20][21] The same month, the two sources for Nuzzi's Daily Beast article revealed to The Daily Caller that they had coordinated beforehand to mislead Nuzzi (particularly about the existence of a campaign) under the expectation that she would uncritically repeat what she was told, with one saying, "Basically, I interspersed various nuggets of truth and exaggerated a lot of things, and sometimes outright lied in the interest of making a journalist believe that online Trump supporters are largely a group of meme-jihadis who use a cartoon frog to push Nazi propaganda. Because this was funny to me."[22] The Anti-Defamation League, an American organization opposed to antisemitism, included Pepe in its hate symbol database but noted that most instances of Pepe were not used in a hate-related context.[23][24] In January 2017, in a response to "pundits" calling on Theresa May to disrupt Trump's relationship with Russia, The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted an image of Pepe.[25][26]

In an interview with Esquire, Furie commented on Pepe's usage as a hate symbol, stating: "It sucks, but I can't control it more than anyone can control frogs on the Internet".[27]Fantagraphics Books, Furie's publisher, issued a statement condemning the "illegal and repulsive appropriations of the character".[28] On October 17, Furie published a satirical take of Pepe's appropriation to the alt-right movement on The Nib.[29][30] This was his first comic for the character since he ended Boy's Club in 2012.[1]

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Pepe the Frog - Wikipedia